the gods

[Hrid at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/29/97 5:00:46 PM, you wrote:

>This is not about
>science and religion. It's about Howard's religion, and he doesn't want me
>to talk about it.
  	To the contrary George, I would be happy to talk with you about my
religion, but that was not the focus of my argument, nor is it the purpose of
this conference. I am concerned with establishing reasonable boundaries that
distinguish, as far as possible, academic and religious speech. The point of
my "algebra analogy", was simply this: let us say that an algebra teacher
gives her students a test and then proceeds to evaluate the students'
answers, marking them right and wrong.  The teacher needs the same knowledge
of algebra to recognize a wrong answer as she does to recognize a right
answer. Similarly, affirming or denying a religious claim equally entail a
claim, on the part of the speaker, to religious knowledge. So if it is not
"academic" to affirm religious truths, it is not "academic" to deny them.  
	Right or wrong, I think the above is a philosophical argument. 
With best wishes,
Howard Resnick